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15 % hike for health sector
NEW DELHI: The proposed budgetary allocation for the health sector — including the North-Eastern region — is Rs. 16, 534 crore, marking an increase of 15 per cent over the previous year allocation.
The allocation for the ambitious National Rural Health Mission alone is Rs. 12,050 crore.
Touted as the key instrument of intervention by the government, it is one of the eight flagship programmes under the NHRM that seeks to establish a fully functional community-owned, decentralised health delivery system.
As many as 4,62,000 trained Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) and link workers are in place, over 1,77,924 Village Health and Sanitation Committees are functional and 323 district hospitals are to be upgraded.
The National Aids Control Organisation will get Rs. 993 crore.
“Studies have shown that the prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS has come down from 0.9 per cent to 0.36 per cent, which is a matter of satisfaction,” Mr. Chidambaram said during his budget presentation.
He announced total exemption of Excise duty on anti-AIDS drug Atazanavir as well as bulk drugs for its manufacture.
The drive to eradicate polio would continue and get a boost with a revised strategy and focus on the high risk districts in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The government proposed to provide Rs. 1,042 crore in the coming fiscal, he said.
The government was planning to launch a Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana to provide a health cover of Rs. 30,000 for every worker in the unorganised sector falling under the below the poverty line category and his/her family.
Expressing happiness that most States had agreed to join the scheme, he said it would be launched in Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan on April 1. The proposed central allocation for the scheme was Rs. 205 crore.
Text of Finance Minister's speech
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